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Argyll and Bute Council News Round Up - 14 February 2014

Submitted by mcconnelle on Fri, 14/02/2014 - 14:39

We are keen to keep you up-to-date with information on the work of the council. Here you will find information including links to news from the council, a ‘Did you Know’ update, a ‘Coming Up’ section and other news.

If you have any suggestions for the kind of information you would like to read about, please do let us know.

Welcome from Leader of the Council, Councillor Dick Walsh: Budget set

“Yesterday Argyll and Bute Council set our budget for 2014/15 and 2015/16. It is focused on achieving savings while also maintaining high levels of investment in key service areas.

Our budget planning approach is about ensuring that we deliver key services that work for people now, that we prepare for future financial challenge and that we invest for economic growth.

You can find out more about how much we are investing and where in our budget news release.

I would like to speak to you just now about the importance of everyone in a community working together, and start by thanking everyone who took the time to reply to our budget communication and consultation action plan.

What you told us about service priorities reinforced our budget planning approach to preserve services where possible by seeking 1% savings across all areas of our work in 2014/15 and 2015/16, while also investing in our people and opportunities for growth.

Following on from what you told us about receiving council information, our Communications and Web Teams will identify ways in which to build on our communication with our communities. They’ll be looking for example at how we can develop the use of this weekly round up. We will update you on actions in future editions of this newsletter.

With significant financial and population challenges ahead, we would like to consult with you regularly as we work to deliver progress where it’s needed.

Everyone in a community has a contribution to make to supporting the future of that community. I realise that you are busy, with many demands on your time, but I would reassure you that the feedback you give us via consultations is appreciated and put to good use. I would ask you please to continue letting us know what you think when consultations are running. The more we work together the more we will achieve for the future of Argyll and Bute.”

Some facts

As an idea of how wide ranging the services are that we deliver, here are some statistics about the work we are doing: yearly, we are working to maintain around 1,400 miles of road, teaching over 11,0000 pupils, collecting bins from over 50,000 homes and businesses, answering well over 100,000 calls to our customer service centre, and supporting our most vulnerable young and elderly.

With winter weather conditions still prevailing, you may be affected by a power cut. Make sure you contact your energy supplier as quickly as possible if you are. This will help them fix the problem as quickly as possible.